In this month’s episode, we again pull back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be a BookNet staff member. CataList Project Coordinator Vivian Luu, Project Manager and Retailer Liaison Tim Middleton, and Senior Software Engineer Tom Gerrard join this episode to tell us what they do, their favourite part of the job, and what they do when they're not working.
(Scroll down for a transcript of the conversation.)
Want to make sure you never miss an episode of the podcast? You can subscribe for free on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, TuneIn, or SoundCloud.
Further reading/listening
The Legend of Drizzt series by R.A. Salvatore
Peak Mind by Amishi P. Jha
The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong
Transcript
Ainsley Sparkes: Welcome to this month's episode of the BookNet Canada podcast. I'm your host, Ainsley Sparkes, Marketing and Communications Manager at BookNet. This month I'm bringing you a very special behind-the-scenes look at BookNet Canada. We first did this BookNet behind the scenes in fall of 2021, where we talked to four of our coworkers about how they spend their days. This time, I've convinced three more of my BookNet colleagues to join the podcast. CataList Project Coordinator Vivian Luu, Project Manager and Retailer Liaison Tim Middleton, and Senior Software Engineer Tom Gerrard. They'll tell us what they do, their favourite part of the job, and what they do when they're not working. Up first, Vivian Luu. Hi, Vivian. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today.
Vivian Luu: Hello.
Ainsley: The first question I have for you is, what is your role at BookNet Canada?
Vivian: Yeah, so I'm a project coordinator and my focus is mainly on CataList, which is an online catalogue system where publishers can post their forthcoming titles.
Ainsley: And what does a typical day look like for you?
Vivian: Typical day. So usually when I first start the day, I give a shout-out in our roll call chat room, just a general hello into the void so that people know I'm available for taking questions or answering anything. Then I check my email to see if there are any new messages or any new CataList signups that came in since the previous time I checked. Sometimes it can get pretty busy, but I try to clear it all out before the start of my day. Then I have one or two meetings scattered throughout the day. Sometimes I meet with publishers who are new to CataList and I give them a tutorial on how to use the product and I answer any questions that they have. I'm also the customer support for our users. So I keep an eye on any more emails that come in throughout the day and answer any of those questions from our users. And depending on where our team is in the schedule, I might be spending most of my time testing any new features that our developers have built for CataList, or I might be writing the documentation for those features after it's released. Yeah, it varies depending on the time of year, sort of. Just it depends on what the publishers are busy doing, and if they are quiet, then I have time to work on other side projects that help make CataList better in the long run.
Ainsley: I mean, it sounds like you juggle many different types of tasks.
Vivian: Yeah.
Ainsley: Day to day, week to week. So can you talk a little bit about how you ended up at BookNet? What brought you here?
Vivian: So before I came to BookNet, I was an intern at Kobo. I've always had an interest in the things that go behind the scenes of creating books and bringing those books to the readers. So that's how I got into Kobo, got interested in working there for a bit. And that's where I learned more about ebooks and how book data travelled through the supply chain and how publishers shared all that data to, like, retailers like Indigo. It was something I hadn't thought of before so that was an interesting learning experience. And after my stint at Kobo, when I was looking for a new job, my colleagues there, they pointed out to me that BookNet was hiring a project coordinator.
I didn't actually know what a project coordinator would entail in the publishing industry, so I wasn't too sure, but once I took a closer look at the job posting and I saw how it was a nice blend of being in the book business, but also having some involvement in tech, I thought that it would be an interesting fit. Since my actual schooling was in technical communication, I somehow got into Kobo's internship program, which was a fascinating experience. So yeah, I found that the position was a nice mix of everything I liked doing. And since joining, it's been great. I get to do things I like and, as a bonus, I get to talk about books.
Ainsley: That's great. That's an interesting career path. So growing up, you had an interest in books, I'm assuming?
Vivian: Yeah.
Ainsley: So what is your favourite book or your favourite genre to read?
Vivian: Oh, my favourite book changes so much. My favourite genre though, hands down, is fantasy. Sometimes it's sci-fi, but it's mostly fantasy. So my current book right now is...it's really a series. It's The Legend of Drizzt by R. A. Salvatore. It's a really long fantasy series, about 40 books so far and he's still writing them, and I'm only on, like, book 8 of 40. So I'm actually pretty happy about that. I have a lot to catch up on and it's going to be fun.
Ainsley: That's a big project.
Vivian: Yes, it is.
Ainsley: Well, thank you for taking the time to share what you do here at BookNet with us today, and looking forward to continuing working with you.
Vivian: Yeah. Thanks, Ainsley.
Ainsley: Thank you. Next, we have Tim Middleton talking to us about what he does at BookNet. Thank you for joining us today on the podcast.
Tim Middleton: Thanks for having me.
Ainsley: I was hoping you could tell us what your role is at BookNet.
Tim: Sure. I am currently, and have been ever since I've been at BookNet, a project manager and also a retail liaison. So I am one of a few retail liaisons, and that's my role.
Ainsley: So what does a typical day look like for you in terms of your work?
Tim: Oh, okay. Well, on any typical day ... there aren't very many, but on any given day, you could probably find me either handling custom requests from people who want to receive data from BiblioShare. That's the main project that I've, in the last number of years, been project managing. So we get lots of people who want that data in different formats, different parts of the data. So I'll be dealing with them, supporting people who are already using some of our BiblioShare services. So, you know, if they're finding bugs or if they're trying to figure out how to do something, I'll have to support that. So we have services and plugins like our Shopify app, so a lot to support around that stuff.
And then also any issues in our Biblio processing. So our BiblioShare platform currently part of it is developed by a third-party vendor and then part of it we've developed in-house. So there's some juggling around, you know, which part of the service is a problem and who's gonna fix it, and then I'll have to manage that. And I'm also responsible, now, in a cycle of team members to do the sales data processing. So that's a weekly process. I have to be in charge of that every second or third week and deal with any problems that are coming through. So this is retailers submitting their weekly sales data to our SalesData platform and sometimes there'll be missing data, sometimes there'll be corrupt files. Anyway, so I have to deal with that stuff. So really just dealing with a bunch of problems all day long ...
Ainsley: Sounds like a lot of troubleshooting, a lot of detective work.
Tim: Yeah, there's a lot of that that goes on. And that's sort of ad hoc because you don't know when that's gonna come in. For instance, this morning, I've already been dealing with three SalesData things that I wasn't expecting to have to deal with today, but they just came up. So other stuff like, oh, figuring out our roadmap for BiblioShare gets put on the back burner and things like that. So there's a lot of fire putting out, but also there are the more planned days where you plan to look at your metrics and decide, "Are we going to meet our goals this year?", things like that.
Ainsley: What's your favourite part of your job?
Tim: Actually the favourite part of my job is troubleshooting. I do like it, I do enjoy it, and other people on our BiblioShare team seem to be oriented that way as well. They really like puzzle-solving and troubleshooting. So really that is my favourite part is the troubleshooting and really digging into that.
Ainsley: Well, that's good. That seems like it really helps, then, to do your job if you enjoy the pieces that you're doing a lot.
Tim: Yeah.
Ainsley: How did you come to BookNet? What brought you to your job?
Tim: Okay. I've been here, as you may know, I've just had my 16th year anniversary at BookNet.
Ainsley: Congratulations.
Tim: I was working for a consumer research software company, and I went into that after a long stint of working in libraries and working in bookstores for most of my life, and when I was in high school, and then when I was in University. University, I studied English, you know, I was really leaning into the arts and culture. And this consumer research, although it was a fascinating job, it was mostly focused on consumer products, in particular, food and beverage. And the science was intriguing, but not my background. So a real food science background, a lot of statistical analysis, which I really did love, but there was a spark that was missing, which to me was, you know, that culture piece, really being immersed in that cultural dialogue that happens, like, around books and around movies and things like that.
So I had heard about BookNet because a number of my past coworkers were starting it up, basically Michael Tamblyn and Noah Genner. And so I was very aware of what was going on there, and also aware that it was sort of at a moment in publishing that was changing. And I had seen that change happening with ecommerce, with the internet, but now this was at another level where publishing was really trying to start to leverage the technology. That was emerging technology and data analysis, so that seemed to play really well into what I had been doing for the last seven years at this consumer research company and it brought back to me the cultural piece that I was missing. So BookNet was growing at the time. They were adding people, like, they really were pretty startup-y and there were only like four people on staff or something like that. So I found that very exciting as well, being in that startup culture. It's very different now after 16 years.
Ainsley: Yeah, I was just gonna say it's BookNet's 20th anniversary this year. So you've been here almost since the beginning, right? So what's changed the most?
Tim: Well, the biggest change, to my mind is, the fact that we actually have a development team in-house. So when I started, all of our development was done by external parties. So we didn't have a ton of control over, you know, some of the releases. We really had to work within the timelines of these companies. Anyways, that is a huge difference. Now we have four developers, designer, like we have a real team now, and we just didn't have that.
Ainsley: So what do you do when you're not at work?
Tim: I do like the outdoors. I like to get in, you know, hiking, canoeing or whatever, lots of outdoor activities. I've gone through another startup company called Parenting. So my kids are 20 now. So I was spending a lot of time with them. Now I'm trying to figure out, "Oh, what was it I did before we had kids?" And of course, reading is a huge...to be quite honest, I could take away everything else and just leave reading and I'd be fine. I would be totally fine.
Ainsley: What are you reading right now?
Tim: So right now I'm reading a book called Peak Mind. I just started that one, so that's really new. Trying to address my problem with focus. I really have a huge problem with focus. So I'm always trying to figure out how to do it better.
Ainsley: Who doesn't have a problem with focus these days?
Tim: Apparently the author ... no, not even the author of this book, she admits to having a problem with focus. So the area that I'm really focused on right now, though, is religious history. Just finishing up Karen Armstrong's book called The Great Transformation, which looks at the Axial Age, beginning of religious traditions across the world, which I find fascinating. And so that's got me digging out my Northrop Frye and Robert Alter and all my biblical books from the past. I'm really focusing in on that. And then the constant to all of my reading is Buddhist stuff, a lot of Buddhist literature, particularly Pema Chodron's been one of my go-to authors. And then I guess I sort of silo my reading. One other area that I am focused on right now, if I look right beside me right now, I have a book by Thomas Piketty on capital.
I have a book on price revolutions and the rhythm of history, and a book on inventory management and production planning. So those are areas where I find they're helpful in terms of the work that I do to kind of understand these concepts and see how they apply. When I'm trying to support other companies, these ideas are helpful. And when I'm trying to think about the supply chain, they're also helpful. Trends in the economy and stuff like that. So there is a business side to me. There's a real self-help side to me. Of course, I love poetry and literary fiction and everything. I guess I just love everything now.
Ainsley: So a very well-rounded collection. Thank you for joining us today. That was an interesting chat.
Tim: Yeah, thanks for listening to my rambling.
Ainsley: And now, Tom Gerrard who works on both CataList and Biblioshare as a software engineer. So thank you for joining me. My first question is, what is your role at BookNet?
Tom Gerrard: My title is Senior Software Engineer and my role is mostly rate software. I kind of do a mix of a whole bunch of different things. Side effect of us having such a small team is that we do everything from writing software to debugging things, to client meetings, to fixing and upkeep on servers and all those other things. So I'm primarily responsible for looking after CataList and BiblioShare, and looking after the dev side of things as well as all the servers and everything else that needs to get done, and providing input per clients and all those other fun things.
Ainsley: So it sounds like you wear quite a few hats throughout the day, throughout the week. But can you tell us a little bit about, like, what a typical day might look like for you?
Tom: Typical day. I work best in the mornings. So typically my days start off with taking a look at what needs to get done and those range from software, writing new features into CataList or BiblioShare, or fixing bugs or doing things like that. So I like to have, like, heads down in the morning as much as possible. And then afternoons are often filled with meetings either within the team or with clients or anyone else.
Ainsley: I think both Tim and Vivian were talking about trying to structure their day, but then often getting emails or requests or things that they weren't anticipating come in and having to triage or problem solve. Do you get a lot of that?
Tom: I get a lot of that. That's the other reason why I like to get as much of stuff that I needed to get done, that I had set up from the day before, down in the morning so that I can get ahead of that stuff before all the emails and everything else side tracks you throughout the day.
Ainsley: So what's the project that you most enjoyed working on?
Tom: I don't think that there's any that I didn't enjoy working on. I like CataList a lot, mostly because it's this big thing that I had a hand in writing since pretty much its get-go. I kind of came in halfway through its first round of development, but then for many years, I was primarily the only one working on it. So most of it has my hands in it. So I've had a lot of work on that, and well, it comes and goes between the point where I'm happy with it and needing to work on other pieces to it. But I like that one. It's a good project.
Ainsley: But it seems like there's always something to add to it, right? Like there's always something that people want to see, there's always some new feature to include.
Tom: Yeah. And I think that's a sign of a good software package. If people are using it and they want to get more out of it and that they're constantly asking for more features and more things that they can do with this thing, then they must be using it a lot and they must be loving it. And yeah, I mean like, it's constantly being worked on, constantly being added to and constantly being, like, fixed in various ways, but, like, its core functionality is still what it was from the beginning, where it's like the ability for publishers to be able to promote and sell their books.
Ainsley: So how did you get to BookNet? What brought you here? What was your career path? Was it a straight line to BookNet or did it sort of meander?
Tom: Oh, it definitely meandered. So I've got a bachelor's in electrical engineering and a master's in business. I have worked for small startup companies, like small startup software companies as well as ... I worked for Accreditation Canada for a while. And yeah, I've done a lot of different things and I was looking for a move and this opportunity came up and it looked interesting. I like small teams for the most part. It gives you a lot of flexibility and a lot of, like, control over what's going on and you get to see all the various pieces. Like, you get to have those client interactions and you get to talk to all the various pieces and see it all going on. And you're not just feeling like you're working on your small piece, you get to work on as much of the big picture as possible. So it's fun.
Ainsley: Yeah, you get a bit more ownership, I guess.
Tom: Yeah. It also means that you have to not only do the initial work on the initial design and figuring out all that stuff but you have to do the development piece and then you have to do the support and you have to ... you have to do the whole head to tail thing, which is fun, but it means that there's a lot of pieces that are always floating around and a lot of things that's always happening.
Ainsley: So what do you do when you're not at work?
Tom: When I'm not in work, I do a lot of things. Look after my kid, play with the dog. He's currently lying on the couch. I throw axes. I used to do a lot of rock climbing, but a couple of injuries have gotten me out of that recently, but I wanna get back into it. And I like to snowboard and I like to do all sorts of things outdoors.
Ainsley: Well, thank you for talking with me.
Tom: Yeah, it was fun.
Ainsley: So there you have it. Thanks to Vivian, Tim, and Tom for taking the time to share with us. You can find links to the things they’ve mentioned in the show notes.
Before we go, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge that BookNet Canada’s physical office is upon the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat Indigenous Peoples, the original nations of the land we now call Toronto. BookNet’s operations are currently remote and our staff contributes their work from these traditional territories, as well as those of the Mi’kmaq People, from the lands we now call Beeton, Brampton, Guelph, Halifax, and Vaughan. We endorse the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and support an ongoing shift from gatekeeping to spacemaking in the book industry. We'd also like to acknowledge the Government of Canada for their financial support through the Canada Book Fund. We’ll be back next month.
A deep dive into book prices in Canada from our upcoming Canadian Book Consumer Study 2023.